It Started As a Deal

Chapter 2: Making the Deal

"The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that's you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts. . . ." ~Howard Baker

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When I step off the bus, its 7:30 a.m. I left early in the morning, and it took about two hours to get here not counting when I fell asleep. Looking around at my surroundings, I spot a park in good walking distance and decide to walk there to plan out my next move. Since it was still early in the morning, there weren't many people there just a few parents with small children. I see a clumo of trees with picinic tables scattered around with nobody there, so I make my way over there. As I walk, I pass a set of swings occupied by a small girl of maybe two years old.

Once I pick a table to sit down at, I take off my backpack and rummage around for my phone, headphones, and a pack of cigarettes. I plug my headphones into my phone and select some music to listen to. When I open my pack of cigarettes, I take one out and light it up. I tilt my head back as I blow the smoke out of my lungs as I exhale.

Suddenly, I feel someone taping on my shoulder blade. Startled by this action, I drop my cigarette on the ground and let out a startled sound. I hurridley stomp out the cigarette so that it doesn't catch the grass on fire and take my headphones out of my ears.

"Oh sorry. I didn't know you had headphones in your ears. I didn't mean to startle you," a voice says to the left of me. I turn to face a guy around my age dressed in all black with black hair so long that it covers his eyes.

"What do you want?" I ask him uninterested in why he was next to me as long as he wouldn't tell me I couldn't smoke.

"I was wondering if I could bum one from you."

"Oh yeah sure. Here." I hand the stranger a cigarette and get another one for myself since my previous one was now smushed into the ground. Not wanting to get in trouble, I pick it up and throw it in the garbage can next to the table. I hand my lighter to him and ask, "What's your name?"

"The name's Vladimir. What's yours if you don't mind me asking?"

"Imogen," I say exhaling and looking down at my phone. Fifteen missed calls from Jessica and twenty-three text messages. Groaning, I lean back to were I am now laying on the table with me feet still on the sitting area.

"Well Imogen," Vladimir says exhaling and turning towards me slightly. "I've never seen you here before, and nobody just comes to this area. By the way you looked at your phone and groaned, I assume you are trying to run away from something."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"If your running away, I assume you have little money. Am I wrong?"

"N-no why?" I ask starting to become a little suspicious of him asking me weird questions.

"There's no need to get nervous. I'm just asking a few questions. You smoke, so you need money to fuel that's, and you'll need a place to stay correct?"

"Yes. Why are you asking me this?" At this point, I'm getting nervous and trying to figure out a way to get away from him without it coming to bite me in the butt.

"Stay here. I'll be right back. Please trust me on this," he says looking at me through his hair.

"Ok fine, but if someone tries to rape me, I'm screaming and biting!" I shout out to him now that he starts to walk away. The only response I get back is a small chuckle from him. While I wait, I can feel my anxiety rising, so I start digging in my bag for my anxiety medication. When I find it, I take one and swallow it dry before packing everything back in the backpack including what I took out before Vladimir came talk to me.

"Imogen, this is my brother Kye, he's 19. Kye, this is Imogen," Vladimir says signaling his return. I look up, and I am taken aback when I see the person he is with. This person is obviously a few years older than Vladimir and I. He is also wearing all black, but unlike his brother, this guy Kye has hair sweeped to the side, so I can see his whole face. His eyes look as if they are the color of steel, and his skin is pale as if he doesn't get out a lot.

"Uhhh hi?" I say as a question because I don't know what to say.

"I think I found the solution to both of your problems!" Vladimir exclaims looking smug and proud of himself.

"What do you mean?" Kye and I queary at the same time. I decide to avoid making eye contact with him for the time being, but I can feel his eyes trained on me.

"Imogen here is running away from something, and she needs a place to live, food to eat, and cigarettes. Kye needs a girlfriend because our mom is bugging him about it, and he has an almost two year old daughter who has no mother figure," exclaims Vladimir.

"What happened to the mother?" I ask Kye actually looking him in the eye despite me making a decision to not look at him.

"She left before I knew she was pregnant and then had Evangeline put up for adoption once she was born. My mother's friend found her and thought she looked like me, so she called my mom. I drove there and was able to get her before somebody else got her. The next day, I got a DNA test to make sure she was mine, and she is.

"She needs a mother, I need a girlfriend, and need a place to live and money for cigarettes. I propose a deal. If you be my girlfriend and help raise Evangeline, I will let you live with me and provide stuff for you," Kye tells me looking at me waiting for a reaction. I sit there with my jaw slackened slightly taken aback by this information for a few moments before speaking spilling more information about me.

"I'll agree to it only if you are okay with my condition," I say looking down at my hands.

"What do you mean by condition?" they ask in unision.

"I have PTSD, and I have the card I need to get my medicine from any pharmacy in the state. The only thing is that if something happens, you people would need to help me. I won't be able to talk sometimes if something happens, so I have instructions in my medicine bag along with a list of my symptoms. My mom is part of the reason it happened, and she is coming back from jail," I answer them looking up directly at their faces. They both look at each other with wide eyes before nodding their heads and turning back to me.

"I'm game if you still are. Do you agree to the deal?" I think for a moment. This is my chance to start over even if it isn't ideal.

"Yes."

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Author's Note: Okay so this is my last pre-written chapter. I'm most likely going to pre-write a few more more after this is posted and wait a bit before typing and posting those. Once again, I really hope you enjoy my stories! I was going to post this on Friday, but something was wrong with the chapters. It kept saying conflict, and I ended up having to retype some parts of my chapters I are wrote. I'm going to just post once a week on Sundays instead of Fridays like I wanted to. Be sure to check out my other works, and I love you all!

~jnicoleb1234 out!